Rural Schemes
Dail Éireann — 2025-10-16
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Dara Calleary (FF), Mayo

CLÁR has been an exemplary programme. It is focused, and we want to keep that focus. We have a programme for Government commitment to look at the expansion of CLÁR areas, and we are finalising that at the moment. Maynooth University has prepared a report for us, which we are looking at.
I join with the Deputy in welcoming this morning's announcement for Cavan, as will the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, who has responsibility for PEACEPLUS. It is a fantastic project. It is linked to the town and is an enormous game-changer for that town. I thank the Deputy for his work and advocacy on it. I know all three organisations, along with the Special EU Programmes Body, will ensure it is delivered and makes an impact. I look forward to visiting it in the near future, perhaps for a game.
CLÁR is focused on providing those services. In a previous iteration, CLÁR also used to provide funding towards group water schemes, where local contributions were hard to match. That is certainly something I would like to look at getting back to. It also invested in putting in power infrastructure for small businesses when, back in the day, three-phase electricity was a big issue. Where there are infrastructure deficits, we will try to provide support.

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Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:14+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-10-16